This invention relates to elastomeric compositions having utility for the formation of electrically conductive elastomer layers on various substrates. The invention relates in particular to fluoroelastomer ink compositions.
Conductive and semiconductive inks have found industrial applications in various fields. For example, such compositions can be used as a coating for aluminum electrical conductors to maintain the conductivity of the aluminum surface which would otherwise be oxidized to a nonconductive aluminum oxide, or as the carbon electrode in thin carbon-zinc batteries. In addition, conductive inks have found recent applicability in composite polymeric electric heating elements of the type incorporating an electrically conductive interlayer between two dielectric films.
Elastomeric materials have frequently formed a major portion of the polymer component of such conductive inks. Fluorocarbon elastomers (fluoroelastomers), particularly those based on copolymers of vinylidene fluoride with other fluorine-containing monomers, have been found especially useful because of their resistance to deterioration by heat and solvents. They have heretofore been used in combination with various crosslinking agents (e.g. certain diamine compounds) to provide cohesiveness and structural integrity of the material in its final processed form.